02 March 2010

Beet Chips and Beet Greens

When I was talking about my sort of failure with the beet cupcakes with a friend, she mentioned how someone she knew made beet chips and that they would probably be really pretty with the candy cane beets. Buuuut when I went to the farmer's market, there were no candy cane beets so I just bought regular beets. Beets come with a huge amount of greens. I have always wanted to cook them, so I took this as an opportunity.

The chips are really tasty. They sort of taste like sweet potato chips but a little sweeter. I think they'd go well with spices like nutmeg or clove or cinnamon, but I just used salt and pepper. The greens were very good! I'd heard beet greens were bitter, but these weren't at all. They don't taste like beet roots, but they are a little sweet. The bunch of beets I bought had 3 large beets and cost $2. A whole meal for $2! This was just the right amount of food for dinner for just me. You'd need more if you wanted to feed more people, or you can use this as a side dish.

Beet ChipsIngredientslarge beets, sliced thin (the thinner you slice, the crunchier they will be! also, I peeled them, I don't know if this is necessary or not)oil, enough fill a small pan/skillet about 1/2 inch, I used canolasalt (coarse if possible) and pepper

Directions1. Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet. I put a small piece of beet in the oil and after it had sizzled for a minute, I decided the oil was hot enough.2. Place beets in the oil. Cook 2-3 minutes per side, flipping once with tongs.3. Remove an put on paper towels to absorb excess oil.4. While still hot, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Beet GreensIngredients1-2 Tbsp oil (use some from the frying if you are doing that too!)1 shallot, diced (I used a shallot because I didn't want to only cut part of an onion, but a small onion, or part of an onion would work fine though!)beet greens and stems from one bunch of beets, sliced into 1" pieces, keeping stems and greens separate2 cloves of garlic, minced2-3 Tbsp vermouth, sherry, or dry white wine2-4 Tbsp watersalt and pepper

Directions1. Heat oil over medium heat in a skillet or small pan.2. Add shallot and stir for 1-2 minutes. Add garlic and stir another 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.3. Stir in beet stems and wine (or whatever you're using). 4. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for 2 minutes.5. Stir in beet greens and enough water to fully coat everything and have a little left in the bottom.6. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until beet greens are soft. 7. Season with salt and pepper.

Yay! You may know this, but I decided not to include it in the original post because of the TMI factor... but! Red beets turn your poo bright red. It's kind of scary if you didn't already know it would happen, but totally normal!